Paris Saint-Germain will be hoping for a change in fortunes when they host Juventus in much-anticipated Uefa Champions League clash. Catch all the action live on SuperSport.
Paris Saint-Germain have never beaten Juventus in eight previous Champions League meetings (D2 L6), losing their last six in a row. This is the most they’ve faced any side in all European competitions without ever winning, although they haven’t faced the Italian club since the 1996 Uefa Super Cup, losing 9-2 on aggregate over two legs.
Juventus have lost just one of their last 10 major European meetings with French sides (W7 D2), although that was their last such away game, going down 0-1 at Lyon in February 2020.
This will be Paris Saint-Germain’s 11th consecutive season in the Champions League; only Lyon have ever had a longer uninterrupted run of qualifications for the tournament among French clubs (12 from 2000-01 to 2011-12). PSG have progressed from their group in each of their last 10 campaigns, last falling at this stage in the competition in 2004-05.
Juventus have qualified for the Champions League for an 11th successive season; the Old Lady have progressed from their group in each of their last eight campaigns, last failing to do so in 2013-14. This is their 23rd Champions League season overall; in just one of the previous 22 have they lost their first match of that season (W13 D8), a 0-3 defeat at Barcelona in 2017-18.
? New season
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 5, 2022
? New intro
?? Same classic anthem #UCL pic.twitter.com/b96EoRMZHr
Paris Saint-Germain have only lost one of their last 30 home games in the Champions League group stage (W24 D5), a 1-2 defeat to Manchester United in October 2020.
Juventus have won 15 of their last 17 group stage games in the Champions League, losing the other two, at home to Barcelona in October 2020 (0-2) and away at Chelsea in November 2021 (0-4).
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has progressed from all 10 of his previous Champions League group stages; the only manager to participate in more group rounds (including second group stages) in the competition’s history while progressing every time is Pep Guardiola (13/13).
Kylian Mbappé has scored in each of his last four Champions League matches; he has never scored in five in a row in the competition, while the last player to do so for PSG overall was Neymar in November 2017.
PSG’s Lionel Messi has scored 72 goals in 69 starts in group stage matches in the Champions League. His 76 group stage goals overall is an all-time competition record, with the Argentine scoring five goals in five group games for his current club last season – each goal coming at the Parc des Princes.
Should he feature in this match, Paul Pogba will make his first Champions League appearance for Juventus since March 2016 against FC Bayern München, six years and 174 days ago. This will be the longest gap between appearances for the club in the competition by any player, surpassing Álvaro Morata’s four years and 218 days in October 2020.
Lionel Messi needs 15 goals this season to catch Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time #UCL record of 140.
— The Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) September 5, 2022
We investigate whether he can do it in 2022-23.https://t.co/BIxaJvRZus pic.twitter.com/VtFh9Xhl23